Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-08-19

Overcome by his fears, he had let fall
a tray full of plates and dishes.
Billups leaped into the air. 1T was
q rat. 25&$ =. -
"That il what Hamlet cried; but
Polonius was behind the sarras Do
you think it was rat, Uncle 5Billy?'''
The butler. delighted to find that
nothing was broken, came to the
! window. "Yov AK me Ell I think it
were rat. Well, saying Mr.. Billup"
presence, I don't see howit could as
been nothing o. de kim. amt sput-
in but what rat kin walk powerful
Vigorous when he's got things all to
hisself, bout midnight and you alay-
in in yo' bed and afeard to ak him
who dat?' But I amt heard you say
you heard anything scamper, and
then varmits most inginrully scamper
when they sees you a-comin.",.
"You can stand there and hear the
rest OF the story" said Mrs. Judge.
"Thank you MISSES; "Pll stay; but
it most done gimme the creeps al
ready"
1.-THE next night" continued the sto-
ry teller, 1.-The same thing occurred,
contrary to my expectation for l had
thought the whole a hallucination,
conjured up by the Raven. On the
third night as midnight approached l
could not help thinking of my
strange visitor. So I sat up, dressed
and waited. Sure enough, Just as the
clock began to strike, heard the same
bold, heavy step, starting as usual,
at the kitchen door. Instantly Itook
my candle in one hand and seized the
door knob with the other. / waited
till the steps halted as usual, against
my door, when thrust the door vio-
lently open, leaping at one bound into
the middle of the hall. Finding abso-
lutely nothing, rushed to the main
hall. heard nothing. ALI the doors
were locked, all the windows closed
The next night I pursued precisely the
same tactics with precisely the same
result. Imade up my mind that l
was throwing away my time trying to
catch that ghost"
'Lor' ME! Mr.. May, s'pose you had
a'cotch him? What could human
do wild one O dem sperrits?'
"Quite true, Uncle Billy; l never
thought of that. Well, he came every
night, and never went away, as far as
| could hear. So, instead Of trying to
catch him, l locked my door so that
he might not catch me, and slept as
we'll as I could. Naturally I did not
mention these occurrences to
the ladies; but, when the sheriff
came home, and he and I were lying in
bed reading, I could keep the secret no
longer. I'must say, however, that /
had hard work making up my mind to
begin. AS / read, cast my eyes at
his stalwart form again and again be.
fore could summon the courage to
tell such cock and bull story Ihad
known him from boy, and known
him to be g. man as totally without
imagination as without fear. What
| would he think OF me? However,"
"Lyt," Ibegan.
He kept on reading and l called to
him again. This time he made a book
marker of his fore6nger and fixed his
eyes dreamily upon me.
'Lyt," l began. and I was conscious
that I colored, "Lyt, did you ever
imagine that you heard footsteps in
this part Of the house late at night?"
Instantly he dropped his book and
rose up in bed, smile of triumph on
on mis- face.
$50, he has been after you, has he?"
do you mean to say" began, ris-
ing from my pillow. i:
"What! Thatconfounded thing
"Stalks up to the door and then
isn't there when you open it,"
"Oh, you didn't tell me anything
about him. He has been calling on
me for fifteen years, off and on. Some.
times he goes off for q whole year or
more, and then he will come every
night for q fortnight And he has
paid his respects to you, has he?"
and Lyt tell back upon his pillow with
q shout of laughter:
II don't find it amusing" rejoined I.
"Why, no, not amusing exactly; but
you see l now know that am not
crazy, which l was not so sure of be-
Tore. That is why [ told you the sto-
ry."
"What are we to do when he comes
tonight, if he so tavors us?"
"You can do what you darned
please, but I shall not stir out OF this
bed::''
"Have you ever tried to catch him?"
"Have I ever tried? Why a hun
dred times. DO you see that hole in
the door? Well. one night sent
ball through after him. No USE"
We talked for some time and then
began reading again. / kept glancing
at the clock, however, and when we
were within FIVE minutes OF midnight I
could no longer fix my attention on
my book. At last the clock slowly
tolled out the hour.
SWELL" said Lyt, II suppose he
don't like to call on two at a time;;"
and the sturdy fellow blew out his
candle and turned over to 60 so sleep.
He had hardly done so when the heavy
step shook the room. l kept silent.
Was it my imaginations No; for Lyt
wheeled over and faced me with anoth-
er smile OF triumph. I sleaped from
my bed and laid my hand upon the
knob. a,.S% r..
%"Catch him by the ears" said Lyt,
'tand haul him in. Let's see what he.
looks like!'' j. 49, .,4.e~# $:
l leaped into the hall as before, and
with the same. result. Ladies' and
gentlemen, that is the end Of my little
ghost story. It has no denouDlent;
but that is not my fault; you will
have to blame the. ghost for that"
After innumerable comments and
questions Ito alltwhich Mr.. May stead.
lily replied that his story was literally
true in every particularly, one Of the
young ladies asked Uncle Billy what
he thought oft. "Was it ghost?"
"Oh, nc, y une mistress; dat warn't
no ghost. Billy kin tell you dat, .sho!.
Billy know q ghosts experiments same
as he eat he breakfast. Is l ever see.